It has been lovely to welcome the children back to school today. There have been lots of happy smiling faces around school and the children looked smart and proud in their uniform. I hope they come home and tell you about their experiences in their new class.

Please read the newsletter that is being sent home today as it gives you important information about events and arrangements for school drop off and pick up. Remember, the newsletter can also be found on our website along with our class blogs that keep you informed about activities and learning in the classrooms.

Our blogs enable parents to find out what their children have been doing at school and to see what the next steps are in their child’s learning, which enables more conversations and involvement at home with learning.

The blogs celebrate children’s learning, and you may wish to send links to other relatives so that they can also be involved in what is happening. We have strict guidelines for staff on using the blogs and safeguarding is our top priority. If we ever post anything that you do not feel should be on the blog, please let us know and it will be removed immediately (e.g. photographs).

All of our blogs may be accessed from the main blog site at rushymeadow.education – when you type that into a browser, please type it into the address bar at the top, and not a Google search bar or similar. Each blog is identified by the year that the children in that group will leave the academy. For example, this year’s Y6 leave in 2019, so their actual blog can be accessed directly at 2019.rushymeadow.education

You will see the actual address of this blog by looking in your address bar now.

If you have more than one child attending the academy, you will want to keep an eye on several blogs. You may wish to bookmark the relevant sites in your browser, but we expect that many parents will wish to be kept updated through their mobile devices.

Good news! – each blog sends what’s known as an RSS feed. A feed is a function of special software that allows feedreaders to access a site, automatically looking for new content and then posting the information about new content and updates to another site. This provides a way for users to keep up with the latest information posted on different blogging sites. The address for each feed is:

If you want to be notified whenever something new is posted, use an RSS reader on your computer or mobile device. There are apps for iPhones and Android, and plenty of browser-based readers. Some will even email you when you get new content. Just search on the internet for RSS Reader.

We know these blogs will become an integrated means of our academy communicating with you and for you to be involved in what we are doing.

Well done to everyone who helped to make yesterday’s Summer Fair a huge success. I would particularly like to thank the PTA who worked extremely hard to ensure that the day was filled with fun and enjoyment. Their organisation was fantastic. Well done PTA!

I would also like to thank all of you who came along to support us. Without you the day would not have been the success it was. I hope you enjoyed the activities in the glorious sunshine.

I am sure that the day will have raised a wonderful amount of money that will go to providing enriching experiences and resources for all the pupils.

I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine that we seem to have every now and then! Let’s hope it continues, particularly for our PTA Summer Fair that is taking place on Saturday 30th June. Please put the date in your diary. I know that the PTA are working extremely hard to make sure the event goes well and is a fun time for our whole school community. I look forward to seeing you on the day.

Over the past few weeks the children in Year 6, Year 2 and Year 1 have completed their SATS and phonic testing. The pupils have made a brilliant effort – well done to them and the teachers for their hard work too.

Thank you to those of you who were able to return your parent survey form. Today I have sent all the surveys off to be analysed by an external company. Many of the returned surveys included really encouraging views about the school. This is wonderful to see. I know that there are still things that we need to work on and get right – none of us in school are being complacent; we are all striving to do our very best. Once I have the formal analysis I will share the headlines with you.

This week has been jam packed with all sorts of activities. First of all I need to say well done to all our Y6 pupils who sat their SATs tests this week. Their attitude and desire to do their very best was excellent .

We have had lots of year groups out on school trips this week and I know that the children enjoyed themselves. I was delighted to hear that the lady who ran the Y3 workshop at the Ecology centre commented on the fantastic behaviour of the children. This is brilliant news because it shows what wonderful ambassadors for our school the children were.

Next week promises to be just as busy with more trips, activities in school and Y6 away on their residential trip.